trade

Exchange of commodities between groups, individuals, or countries. Direct trade is usually known as barter, whereas indirect trade is carried out through a medium such as money.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, for example, barter between Europeans and West Africans was based on units of value called sortings. A sorting might consist of a quantity of cloth or oil. The amount of goods in each sorting varied according to supply and demand.

International trade patterns have evolved out of the relationships between European and North American countries and their former colonies. Less economically-developed countries (LEDCs) in South America, Asia, and Africa supply raw materials to more economically-developed countries (MEDCs) for manufacturing into goods. Once manufactured, the raw materials fetch a greater price. The Industrial Revolution, by creating a manufacturing sector, widened the economic disparity between LEDCs and MEDCs. Efforts to improve the economy of an LEDC focus on the development of a manufacturing sector.

trade - events

c. 1900 BC	Europe, Italy, Greece	The ‘amber routes’, the earliest roads in Europe, are built by the Etruscans and Greeks to transport amber and tin from northern Europe to the Mediterranean and Adriatic. They are used until about 300 BC.
c. 1800 BC	Assyria	The Assyrians enter history in a reference to their merchants' activities at the site of Kanesh (modern Kultepe) at the eastern end of the Anatolian plateau. The city has been excavated showing Assyrian merchants' quarters in one section of the native city.
c. 1600 BC	Crete	Crete's favourable position on trade routes across the eastern Mediterranean extends Minoan influence throughout the Aegean. The new palaces develop into political, economic, administrative, and religious centres, also containing storehouses and craftsmen's workshops, and the Minoan rulers go down in Greek legend as great lawmakers.
c. 1100 BC	Phoenicia, Palestine	The Phoenicians are beginning to create a colonial empire, certainly trading with Spain, and possibly founding Tarshish and Gades in Spain, although these foundations may have been later. Similarly the Israelites, left alone for a while by their powerful neighbours, are succeeding in their efforts to develop from a collection of tribes into a united people and to dominate Palestine.
560 BC	Lydia	Under king Croesus Lydia benefits from being well situated for trade between East and West. The Greek cities on the coast of Asia Minor also benefit so, despite their precarious situation, they find it worthwhile to pay tribute to Croesus.
545 BC	Greece, Persian Empire	The Ionian Greek cities of Asia Minor are forced to accept Persian suzerainty, although they retain their freedom to trade so long as they pay tribute. However, the Phocaeans, ‘pioneer navigators of the Greeks’, refuse to submit and flee to Corsica where they reinforce the colony of Alalia (or Aleria).
c. 150 BC	China, Former Han Empire, India, Europe, Mauryan Empire	The Silk Road, a trade route from China to India and Europe, begins to be used. By AD 200 it is 6,400 km/4,000 mi long and stretches from the Levant in the eastern Mediterranean to Sian in China. It is the longest road in the world for nearly 2,000 years.
1353	England, Flanders	King Edward III of England transfers the wool staple (the town appointed to be the exclusive wool marketplace) from Bruges, Flanders, to England.
1550	Portugal, Japan	The Portuguese establish their first trading post in Japan at Hirado, near Nagasaki.
1550–1600	North America, South America, Europe	New agricultural products are exchanged between the New and Old Worlds. The Spanish introduce potatoes, tomatoes, quinine, cocoa, tapioca, and tobacco to Europe. From Europe, the New World gains barley, oats, rye, sugar cane, cattle, pigs, poultry, rabbits, and horses.
1611	UK, Mogul Empire, India	The first permanent British East India Company outpost ‘factory’ (trading station) in India is established on the east coast at Masulipatam (modern Machilipatnam), in the sultanate of Golconda.
1624	United Netherlands, South America, Africa, Portugal	The Dutch West India Company begins to operate in South America and West Africa, largely in defiance of the Portuguese.
27 November 1792	France, Savoy, Austrian Netherlands	France annexes Savoy and Nice from the Kingdom of Savoy-Piedmont and opens the River Scheldt in the Austrian Netherlands to commerce.
28 February 1808	Austrian Empire, France, Europe	Austria joins the French emperor Napoleon I's Continental System and supports the closure of European ports to Britain.
31 March 1854	USA, Japan	The USA makes its first trade treaty with Japan, negotiated by Commodore Matthew Perry, whose naval mission in 1853 had forced Japan to establish preliminary diplomatic links with the outside world.
1866	USA	Three-fourths of US imports are manufactured goods, while three-fourths of US exports are crude materials or crude foodstuffs.
1917	United Kingdom, Germany	German submarine blockades of shipping lead to food shortages in Britain.
1 January 1948	Europe	The Benelux Customs Union comes into effect, creating a free-trade zone between Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. It is a significant step towards closer European integration.
8 July 1972	USA, USSR	The US president Richard Nixon announces that the USSR will purchase $750 million worth of US grain over three years.
1977	UK	For the first time, Britain imports more cars than it manufactures.
1978	USA	Sneakers account for 50% of shoe sales in the USA.
11 December 2001		China formally joins the World Trade Organization (WTO) after 15 years of negotiations.

trade (redirected from Trading network)

trade

trade - events

trade
(redirected from Trading network)